Prejudices towards people with intellectual disabilities: reliability and validity of the Italian Modern and Classical Prejudices Scale

Parental stress and support perception in southern Italy's households with intellectual disabilities and/or autistic spectrum disorder before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

The stress experienced by parents of persons with Intellectual Disability (ID) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is higher than that of parents of neurotypical children (TD). An important protective factor is the perception of the support received within the family and the social network. The emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the health of people with ASD/ID and their families. The aim of the study was to describe the levels of parental stress and anxiety before and during the lockdown in southern Italy's families with ASD/ID persons and analyze how the levels of support perceived by these families. 106 parents, the ages of 23 and 74 years (M = 45; SD = 9), from southern Italy responded to an online battery of questionnaires measuring parental stress, anxiety, perception of support and attendance at school activities and rehabilitation centers, before and during lockdown. In addition, descriptive, Chi-Square, MANOVA, ANOVAs, and correlational analyses were conducted. The results showed that during the lockdown, attendance at therapies and extra-moenia activities and participation in school activities drastically dropped. During lockdown, parents felt inadequate. The parental stress and anxiety were moderate, but the perception of support dropped significantly.

Factors associated with workers' attitudes towards employment of persons with intellectual disabilities in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND

Persons with intellectual disabilities have the right to pursue and acquire gainful employment and thereby obtain the psychological, social and economic benefits derived from employment.

AIMS

This study aimed to examine workers' attitudes towards and perspectives with respect to the challenges of employing persons with intellectual disabilities.

METHOD

The sample was composed of 168 persons (60% male). Participants responded to a questionnaire that assessed their attitudes towards working with persons with intellectual disabilities (ATWQ) and a challenges questionnaire (CHQ).

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

This study found that familiarity (frequency of contact) and having a previous work experience with someone with an intellectual disability were positively associated with workers' attitudes towards employing persons with intellectual disabilities. Furthermore, owners and supervisors were more reluctant to accept the practice of employing persons with intellectual disabilities than were employees. No differences were found by gender. Implications based on the findings are discussed herein.

Covert-overt prejudices towards the intellectual disabilities at school: A study on teachers and non-teachers of southern Italy

Intellectual Disabilities (ID) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with considerable individual variability in type and severity. Due to overt and covert prejudices around ID, however, society tends to generalize this condition. Also, in schools, teachers’ attitudes toward students with IDs often differ from those toward regular students. The purpose of this study is to examine the levels of overt and covert prejudices toward ID of curricular and support teachers and non-teachers, in a sample of Southern Italian citizens, by evaluating age, gender and socioeconomic differences, as well as the associations of prejudice with education about and contact with ID. Six hundred and sixty-four participants (484 F; 38% teachers), 18–70 years old (M = 38.72; SD = 14.79) participated in the study. The Modern and Classical Prejudices Scale was administered in paper and online forms. Sociodemographic measures, as well as measures around ID education and contact with people with ID were collected. The results show that teachers had higher levels of classical prejudices compared to non-teacher participants. Teachers of primary schools showed higher levels of classical and modern prejudices. No gender and socioeconomic status (SES) differences were found in the whole sample. The entry of children with Intellectual Disabilities into primary school can be strongly influenced by teachers’ prejudices. Therefore, the need for teachers’ information and training on Intellectual Disabilities is evident.

The positive impact of knowledge and quality of contact on university students' attitudes towards people with intellectual disability in the Arab world

BACKGROUND

This study examines undergraduate students' attitudes towards people with intellectual disability (PWID) in relation to their frequency of contact with people with intellectual disability, the quality of this contact, and their knowledge of intellectual disability (ID).

METHOD

The study sample comprised 1001 undergraduate students (458 male students [46 %]; 543 female students [54 %]; mean age = 20.6 years) from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The Arabic version of the Mental Retardation Attitude Inventory-Revised (MRAI-R) was used to examine attitudes towards PWID.

RESULTS

Knowledge about ID, quality of contact with PWID, and gender were significant predictors of attitudes. Frequency of contact, as well as having relatives with a disability, were not significant predictors of attitudes. No differences were found between participants from the two countries.

CONCLUSION

The results of the study indicate that high-quality contact is a major predictor of students' attitudes. Therefore, society needs to ensure more than just simple forms of contact between people with and without disabilities.